Magazine and blade combination



March 6, 1951 H. YOUNG MAGAZINE AND BLADE COMBINATION Filed June 6, 1947IN VEN TOR.

Patented Mar. 6, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MAGAZINE AND BLADECOMBINATION Louis H. Young, Auburndale, Mass., assignor to GilletteSafety Razor Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of DelawareApplication June 6, 1947, Serial No. 752,908

3 Claims. i

This invention relates to devices for dispensing sharp-edged blades suchas safety razor blades and consists in the novel combination of amagazine having exit or delivery openings at opposite ends with a stackof blades having direction indicia displayed in view of the user.

It has been found that the fine cutting edge of a safety razor blade isso delicate in its structure that it is likely to be easily damaged byany chance contact occurring before actual use of the blade. It isdesirable, therefore, that the manufacturer, who produces the finecutting edge of the blade, should also package and securely protect theblades as they are finished so that they may arrive unimpaired in theusers hands.

One of the most satisfactory ways in which safety razor blades arepackaged by the manufacturer for distribution is in a dispensingmagazine which requires the blades to be delivered or ejectedalternately from its opposite ends, for example by arranging the bladesin alternately staggered relation. In such a magazine adjacent bladesare already partially separated by a space equal to the thickness of ablade. In dealing with blades as thin as .004 to .007 inch, this partialseparation which may be effected in the packaging operation isespecially desirable. Since, however, the uppermost blade in the stackcan be ejected by movement in only one direction from the magazine, itis a matter of considerable convenience to the user that he should beinformed by readily seen indicia as to which direction the current bladeshould be moved in order to discharge it from the magazine. The objectof the present invention is to solve this problem and this I haveachieved by a novel combination of magazine and blades. I

Going more into detail, the magazine comprises an enclosure for a stackof blades and is provided with blade-delivery or exit openings at itsopposite ends. It is also provided internally with blade-locating meanswhich maintain the stack of blades with their sharp edges out of contactwith the walls of the magazine, being so constructed and arranged as topermit the outermost or uppermost blade of the stack to be displaced bythe user toward one or the other of the exit openings, as the case maybe. The magazine is further provided with anopening or window exposingthe uppermost or outermost blade of the stack and through which the usermay reach that blade to displace it by tractional contact.

In combination with such a magazine, I employ a stack of slotted blades,each having an arrow or other direction indicia thereon and these bladesare so assembled by the manufacturer that the arrows point alternatelyin opposite directions and are exposed to view through the opening ofthe magazine. 'The direction indicia therefore indicate which directioneach successive blade must be moved for its proper delivery from themagazine.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the complete device on an enlargedscale;

Fig. 2 is a view in longitudinal section on a still larger scale;

Fig.3 is a plan View showing a blade as partly removed from themagazine; and V Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of a dispensing magazineof somewhat different construction.

An important feature of the blade containing and dispensing deviceherein shown is that it may be constructed at such moderate cost thatthe manufacturer can afford to supply it merely as an item of bladepacking to be discarded by the user when it has served its purpose.

The illustrated device comprises a rectangular base l0 having parallellongitudinal walls or flanges I I and !2 at its opposite edges andspaced upstanding studs l3 and i4 located in its median axis andseparated by an open space. The base I0 may be molded of any suitablesynthetic resin such as Vinylite, Lucite or the like. As herein shown,the studs l3 and M are attached to the base ill by dowels but it will beunderstood that as a general thing these studs will be molded as anintegral part of the base. They are long and narrow in contour, locatedan equal distance within the ends of the base In and have rounded innervertical faces.

Attached to the base It} is a metallic cover l5. This extends across themiddle of the bottom of the base It], being held in place by shouldersit in the bottom of the base. The cover or clip extends upwardly acrossthe outer walls of the ribs H and I2 of the base and then inwardly inthe form of opposed wide U-shaped flanges l1 and I8. In the illustratedembodiment of the invention the cover I5 is formed of spring metal andits flanges l1 and I8 tend always to spring downwardly toward the innerface of the base In. The two cut-out portions of the flanges ll and I8provide an opening of substantial area located at the center of thedevice as a whole.

The device is shown as containing a stack of ten longitudinally slottedblades 20 of a well known commercial type, that is to say, thindouble-edged blades having a notch in each corner which notches togetherdefine unsharpened elongated end portions closing each end of the blade.Each blade is also provided with an elongated median slot ofsubstantially the same length as the sharp edges of the blade andprovided with spaced enlargements designed to fit the blade-locatingprojections of razors in which the blades are to be used. The bladeslots are of such width as to fit freely over the studs I3 and I4 andwhen empaled on these studs the blades are held positively with theirsharpened edges out of contact with the walls I I and I2 of the base.The studs I3 and I I are so spaced that the blades 28 may be located instaggered relation thereon, with alternate blades impaled on difierentstuds and each blade free to move longitudinally a distance equal to thelength of its slot minus the length of the stud upon which it isimpaled. As shown in Fig. 1, the uppermost blade 28 is impaled upon theright-hand stud I3 with its solid end portion in contact with the outerwall of the stud and the other end portion of the blade 25 is located insubstantial contact with the inner vertical face of the stud I4. Thatblade therefore is free to move toward the right until its solidleft-hand end brings up against the stud I3. Similarly the second bladein the stack is impaled upon the stud It; with its inner end in contactwith the inner vertical wall of the stud I3, and that blade is free tomove longitudinally toward the left.

Each blade as finished is provided on its flat face with directionindicia, herein shown as a pair of single-headed arrows 2| although ifdesired a single arrow only may be employed. The arrows are placed uponthe blade in such a position as to be freely exposed to view through theopening in the cover I5. In the illustrated combination the arrows arelocated wholly in onehalf of the blade face, in parallel relation andwith their heads pointing to that end of the blade which is most remote.The points of the arrowheads terminate slightly short of the mediantransverse axis of the blade.

In assembling the illustrated device for distribution, the blademanufacturer may supply the blades 20 to the base in the staggeredrelation above explained by automatic machinery or by any means whichwill adequately safeguard the sharp edges of the blades. The cover I5 isthen placed and attached to the base and by its spring action holds theblades of the stack securely in the position shown, that is to say withthe opposite ends of the blades substantially flush with the ends of thebase ID and with their sharpened edges, as already noted, safelyclearing the ribs II and I2. It will be noted that the flanges I! and I8of the cover are so spaced 'as to permit the cover as a whole to beslipped into its position past one or other of the studs I3 and I4.

The completely loaded blade-containing and dispensing device is shown inFig. 1 as ready to be wrapped for distribution. When it reaches theuser, he has only to engage the uppermost blade 26 with his thumb, asshown in Fig. 3, in the area of the blade exposed by the cut-outopenings in the flanges I I and I8 of the cover, and to work the bladeby traction longitudinally toward the right in the direction indicatedby the arrows 2I and in opposition to the yielding resistance of thecover. In Fig. 3 the uppermost blade 20 is shown as displacedlongitudinally to the limit of its movement, that is to say, theleft-hand end of its slot has been moved into engagement with the innerwall of the right-hand stud I3. It will be noted that the'contour of theend edges of the combined flanges I! and I8 of the cover correspondsgenerally to the end contour of the blade. Accordingly, when the blade20 is moved endwise to the position shown in Fig. 3, its inner endpasses substantially out from beneath the flanges of the cover. It isthus freed and may be conveniently grasped by the user and conveyeddirectly to the razor.

The blade 20' in the stack which now becomes uppermost is howeverimpaled upon the stud I4 and is free for movement toward the leftinstead of toward the right end of the device. Accordingly when the userdesires to remove this second blade, he proceeds as before, engaging themiddle portion of the blade with his thumb and advancing it endwise outfrom beneath the flan es of the cover but in the opposite direction fromthat in which the previous blade has been moved, unless the device hasmeanwhile been reversed end for end, but always in the directionindicated by the arrows 2|.

The flanges I1 and I8 of the cover follow down the blade stack as it isreduced in height by the removal of successive blades. The flanges havesuiiicient range of yielding movement to retain a single blade inposition or to maintain a stack of five or ten or more blades inposition. In each instance therefore the blade which is uppermost in thestack or the last remainingblade of the stack is yieldingly held in theposition in which it is initially placed in the device, being at thesame time free for frictional movement in one direction or the otherfrom beneath the cover.

In Fig. 4 is shown a'dispensing magazine of the same general characteras that above described but having its cover extended to form a morecomplete enclosure for the blade stack. In this instance thebase 22 andcover 23 are substantially co-extensive in outline and define betweenthem a substantially rectangular enclosure tapering upwardly anddownwardly at both ends. An exit slot is provided in both ends of themagazine, one slot 24 being shown in Fig. 4. The cover is also providedwith-an oval opening or window 25 through which the uppermost blade 20of the stack may be reached by the user. This blade is provided with apair of arrows 2| indicating that it is to be displaced toward theright, and it will be understood that the next lower blade in the stackis provided with arrows directed toward the left indicating that theblade should be delivered through the exit slot 24.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail illustrativeembodiments thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure 'by Let-- tersPatent:

1. A blade dispensing magazine comprising an enclosure having a stack ofbare blades therein, the enclosure having oppositely disposed exitopenings through which the blades are dispensed alternately in oppositedirections, a blade 10- cating stud associated with each exit openingand having the space between said studs unobstructed at least in theexit path of the uppermost blade, said blades being assembled instaggered overlapping relation on alternate studs only, a top having anopening positioned beblades of the stack toward opposite exit openings,

the indicia of each blade being successively exposed to view throughsaid blade-exposing and finger-admitting opening as the blades aredispensed from the stack, each stud operating to prevent exit of a bladein the direction contrary to that shown by its exposed indicia.

2. A blade dispensing magazine as set forth in claim 1 wherein saidunidirectional indicia are exposed to view through said blade-exposingand finger-admitting opening in a position substantially coinciding withthe initial area of fingerof the blade.

to -blade contact as the blades are dispensed from the stack.

'3. A blade dispensing magazine as set forth in" claim 1 wherein saidunidirectional indicia are arrows and wherein said arrows terminateapproximately at the median transverse axis LOUIS H. YOUNG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,791,586 Todd Feb. 10, 19311,834,284 Kylberg Dec. 1, 1931 11 896,380 Weber Feb. 7, 1933 1,909,919Testi May 16, 1933 1,950,863 Raguin Mar. 13, 1934 2,344,961 BenjaminMar. 28, 1944 2,362,504 Shnitzler Nov. 14, 1944 2,392,433 -Testi Jan. 8,1946

